Board games
by Tez
Summary: Just what it says - assorted board games with our JAG friends (HM)
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: This is not my day to own JAG. Tomorrow's not looking good either.

A/N: You may notice I stay away from anything that takes place after season six. There's two reasons for this. One, I think the writers went stark raving mad after Lifeline. Two, Lifeline was the last episode I saw before the season 9 premiere (I was a summer USA JAG watcher), leaving a three-season gap in my viewing time. I've read synopses, but it's not the same as seeing it, and it makes it hard to write it. (For Jen, who was wondering why I haven't written a coda to Adrift.) 

            I clap my piece triumphantly down onto the red square. 

            "King me!"

            Harm groans, but he digs out one of the pieces he's already captured and balances it on top of mine. "Now I'm in trouble," he tells me, raising an eyebrow at the checkerboard as he considers his options.

            I'd have to agree with his assessment. I've got him right where I want him, and I can't see any way for him to get out of the trap I've set. 

            "You could always give up now," I offer, grinning.

            He gives me a suspicious look.

            "What about the bet?"

            I buff my nails on my shirt, gazing over his left shoulder.

            "Technically it's welching, but I could offer you a deal."

            "What kind of deal, Counselor?"

            His smile is playful, but I'm in deadly earnest. I'm afraid that what I'm about to do might have lasting repercussions, but I can't just sit around and watch him date these useless women while I play the sympathetic friend. It's killing me.

            "We'll change the terms of the bet. All you have to tell me is what you're actually looking for in a woman, since you can't seem to find it anywhere."

            He eyes me, still suspicious. 

            "And I'm off the hook?"

            I shrug. "Or you can play the game the rest of the way through and have to give me all the gory details." I'm not sure how we got onto the topic of each other's love lives, but the initial bet was a detailed post-game analysis of all of our ex-lovers by the loser. I really just wanted him to try and come up with three reasons he hasn't dumped Jordan yet.

            Harm sighs. "All right."

            I don't bother to hide a gleeful grin, and he gives me a warning look. Clearing his throat, he thinks for a moment before speaking.

            "'My ideal girlfriend', by Harmon Rabb, Jr."

            I can't suppress a snort of laughter, and he throws a pillow at my head.

            "First, she has to have a decent sense of humor," he says, giving me an arch look. I shake my head, still grinning, and he sighs again. 

            "She's got to be able to appreciate how much the Navy means to me, and how important I think my job is." He smiles wistfully, and I know he's thinking about Annie. "She has to be able to handle the fact that I love to fly. I don't want to have to change myself to make her love me. It has to come on its own."

            His voice is dropping lower as he continues to speak. I rest my chin on my hands and strain to hear him, even though he's only a foot away from me since we're still sitting in front of the checkerboard.

            "She has to understand me. She has to be able to put up with my obsessions."

            I smile at that. He told me once that just when he thought he'd never find anyone who understood where he was coming from, I followed him to Russia and changed his mind. I've replayed that conversation so many times in my head.

            He gives me a look I can't interpret and then shifts his gaze to the ceiling, hugging his knees to his chest like a little kid.

            "She has to be beautiful and kind and loyal. She has to be able to take me on faith once in a while, and back me up when I need her to." He sighs. "Basically, she has to be you, Mac, but in love with me." He gives a little laugh, and I think my heart just stopped. "I don't know. I don't think she's out there."

            For a moment all I can do is stare. He's left me the opening I've been waiting for for three and a half years. Have I got the guts to take it and risk losing our friendship?


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: No, I don't own JAG. Why did USA rerun Season 4 but leave out 'Mr. Rabb Goes to Washington' and 'People v. Mac'? Those two episodes were the whole reason I had USA on this week, and they went from 'Angels 30' straight to 'The Black Jet'.

A/N: Does anyone else have the 'twenty stories, no beginnings' problem I'm having right now? I have at least five stories with great middles and endings that I can't post because the beginnings are really weak or nonexistent. Why can't I just start in the middle, where the action is? 

            "She isn't out there, Harm," I hear myself say, and now I have his full attention. I push the checkerboard out of the way and scoot forward until I'm kneeling in front of him, committing myself to finally breaking the cycle we've spent so long perfecting.

            "She's right here."

            We look at each other for a long moment, and I try to put what I'm feeling into my gaze. I'm not sure which of us moves first, but eventually our lips are mere centimeters apart. 

            "Sarah," he breathes, raising his hand to rest his fingers on my cheek. "Maybe you missed the last part of that."

            "Hmm," I reply, mirroring his motion. His five o'clock shadow tickles the tips of my fingers. "She has to be me. Check. She has to be in love with you...check. No, I think I've got it."

            The look on his face melts my heart. It's awe and love and childish delight all at the same time, and it's directed at me. I did that. I made him that happy. Suddenly I feel ten feet tall and bulletproof. 

            "I love you so much," he whispers. My breath catches in my throat at his admission, and then his lips are on mine and I can't think about anything else. 

            My internal clock goes haywire, so I don't know how long we spend making out like high school kids on the floor of Harm's apartment, but it's definitely not long enough before a sharp knock at his door pulls us apart. We look at each other for a minute, and then he shakes his head with a huge grin.

            "Let 'em knock," he murmurs, leaning in to kiss me again. More than willing to let whoever's at the door stay there indefinitely, I return his kiss and lean forward against him. He lies back so I'm sprawled across him, and I can't help the laugh that escapes me at the loud repetitive knocking from the foyer. 

            "Someone's persistent," I mumble as his lips trace a path down my jaw to my neck. "Maybe you should – mmph…"

            His lips recapture mine to silence my protests. "They can wait," he responds, rolling over and taking me with him so that he's got me firmly pinned to the floor. Not that I'm complaining. "We're busy," he adds, and I smirk up at him. 

            "Any chance we might get busier?" I inquire innocently, and he mock-growls at me before lowering his mouth to my neck again. I like that and I let him know it, making a little noise of pleasure as his teeth scrape lightly against my skin. His hands have traveled lower, to the bottom of my shirt, and I have a moment to debate with myself whether or not we're moving too fast. As he starts to work my shirt up my sides, I shrug inwardly. With anyone else it would be too fast, but I've known Harm for three years and been in love with him at least that long. I'm not sure there is a 'too fast' for us. 

            The knocking at the door is becoming ridiculous, but I ignore it in favor of determining exactly what it feels like to wrap my arms around Harm and hold on to him with everything I've got. It's something I've always wanted to do, and he smiles against my lips as my arms tighten around him. 

            "I've wanted to do that forever," I admit breathlessly, tilting my head back to look up at him. He gives me one of his gorgeous flyboy grins and reaches out to brush his thumb against my cheek.

            "Then do it forever," he replies, leaning in to kiss me again. "I certainly won't stop you."

            The knocking at the door has stopped, something that Harm gives no indication of noticing. We both freeze, however, at the sound of a key in the lock, and then the door swings open. I look over first, my hands clenching on Harm's shoulders as I realize who's just walked in on us.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own JAG. If I did, I'd drop out of school faster than you can say 'exculpatory evidence'.

A/N: Sorry for the lack of updates. Between midterms and the siren call of another genre, I haven't gotten much done for poor Mac and Harm lately. The fourth chapter of Break Room doesn't want to be written, so here's the third installment of Board Games. If anyone's interested in helping me figure out a beginning for The Longest JAG Story Ever, so that I can finally post it, let me know. I'm getting ready to just post it without a beginning. :)

            The guilty look on Harm's face would be priceless if I weren't so embarrassed. I've never met her, but from the way Harm's looking up at her – like a teenager caught in a romantic clinch on his parents' couch – this has to be Harm's mother. 

            "Mom," he gasps, confirming my suspicion. "What are you…why are you…" He stops, closing his eyes as he becomes speechless for the first time in my memory. His mother gives him a patient smile. 

            "You didn't expect me to miss your birthday, did you?"

            He groans, and I push up on his shoulders. We're still sprawled out on the floor, and as much as I'd like to get up and leave quickly with whatever dignity I've got left, I can't do it with a six-foot-four flyboy on top of me. 

            He gets the message after a minute, practically jumping to his feet and offering me a hand up. I take it, blushing crimson as I come face-to-face with his mother.            

            "And you would be…Jordan?" she guesses, and my heart sinks. For the last few minutes, I've managed to forget that Harm already has a girlfriend. What kind of a tramp does that make me?

            Blushing a deeper shade of red and vowing to join a convent as soon as I get out of this room, I take a deep breath. "Actually, I'm Sarah Mackenzie. I'm Harm's partner at JAG –"

            "You're Mac!" Her eyes are sparkling suddenly, and I find myself pulled into a tight hug. "Oh, it's so wonderful to meet you. Harm speaks of nothing and no one else." She steps back a little, keeping her hands on my shoulders and studying me for a moment. 

            "You were right, Harm," she tells him without looking away from me. "She's absolutely stunning."

            I look over at Harm to find he's about the same shade of red I'm sure I am. His eyes telegraph his frustration at the interruption. Mine tell him it's not a problem; we can pick this back up later. His mother, not noticing our silent exchange, continues to speak to him. 

            "You really should have called me when the two of you got together, Harm." She gives me a conspiratorial wink. "I've been rooting for you the whole way," she confides. "There's just something wrong when my son says he has a girlfriend but can't talk about anything but his brilliant, beautiful Marine. That's what he calls you, you know. After the two of you came home from your first mission, that was all he told me about you. You can just imagine how much I've wanted to meet you."

            "And this is why you haven't, Mom," Harm replies, still crimson. I'm too busy trying to process this new revelation to pay any attention to him. The idea of him telling his mother that about me, a week after we met, has me practically melted into a puddle on the floor. The idea that he might possibly have been interested in me over the past three years is almost too much to contemplate. 

            His mother waves a hand absently at him, still looking at me. "Well," she says finally, "I suppose I'll head over to my hotel, having surprised you rather better than I intended to, Harmon."

            He covers his face with his hands again and suddenly the hilarity of the situation hits me. I bite the inside of my cheeks to keep from laughing, but his mother sees and smiles. 

            "Never a dull moment with my son around," she tells me, patting my shoulder as she gives him an amused look, and something bittersweet bubbles up inside me. I've only spent five minutes with her and I can already tell that Harm's mom really, truly loves her son. 

            "Please don't go," I blurt out, surprising myself. "I mean, I don't want to interrupt –"

            "Of course not, dear," Harm's mom replies, looking genuinely puzzled at the idea that I might be intruding on their family time.

            "We should have dinner," Harm offers, finally joining the conversation. "All of us, together."

            "That would be lovely," she tells him, looking over to give him a smile. "Where would you like to go?"

            "Wherever you want, Mom," he replies, and she turns to me. 

            "Mac? Any preference?"

            "Somewhere with coffee," I reply unconsciously, and then I realize who I'm talking to. To my surprise, she agrees wholeheartedly and in short order we're bundling up to go outside to Harm's SUV, having mutually selected Denny's as our destination. 


End file.
